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3C-Silicon Carbide Microresonators for Timing and Frequency Reference

In the drive to miniaturise and integrate reference oscillator components, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) resonators are excellent candidates to replace quartz crystals. Silicon is the most utilised resonator structural material due to its associated well-established fabrication processes. Ho...

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Autores principales: Wood, Graham S., Sviličić, Boris, Mastropaolo, Enrico, Cheung, Rebecca
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6190194/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30404380
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/mi7110208
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author Wood, Graham S.
Sviličić, Boris
Mastropaolo, Enrico
Cheung, Rebecca
author_facet Wood, Graham S.
Sviličić, Boris
Mastropaolo, Enrico
Cheung, Rebecca
author_sort Wood, Graham S.
collection PubMed
description In the drive to miniaturise and integrate reference oscillator components, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) resonators are excellent candidates to replace quartz crystals. Silicon is the most utilised resonator structural material due to its associated well-established fabrication processes. However, when operation in harsh environments is required, cubic silicon carbide (3C-SiC) is an excellent candidate for use as a structural material, due to its robustness, chemical inertness and high temperature stability. In order to actuate 3C-SiC resonators, electrostatic, electrothermal and piezoelectric methods have been explored. Both electrothermal and piezoelectric actuation can be accomplished with simpler fabrication and lower driving voltages, down to 0.5 V, compared to electrostatic actuation. The vibration amplitude at resonance can be maximised by optimising the design and location of the electrodes. Electrical read out of the resonator can be performed with electrostatic or piezoelectric transduction. Finally, a great deal of research has focused on tuning the resonant frequency of a 3C-SiC resonator by adjusting the DC bias applied to the electrodes, with a higher (up to 160-times) tuning range for electrothermal tuning compared to piezoelectric tuning. Electrothermal tuning lowers the frequency, while piezoelectric tuning can be used to raise the frequency.
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spelling pubmed-61901942018-11-01 3C-Silicon Carbide Microresonators for Timing and Frequency Reference Wood, Graham S. Sviličić, Boris Mastropaolo, Enrico Cheung, Rebecca Micromachines (Basel) Review In the drive to miniaturise and integrate reference oscillator components, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) resonators are excellent candidates to replace quartz crystals. Silicon is the most utilised resonator structural material due to its associated well-established fabrication processes. However, when operation in harsh environments is required, cubic silicon carbide (3C-SiC) is an excellent candidate for use as a structural material, due to its robustness, chemical inertness and high temperature stability. In order to actuate 3C-SiC resonators, electrostatic, electrothermal and piezoelectric methods have been explored. Both electrothermal and piezoelectric actuation can be accomplished with simpler fabrication and lower driving voltages, down to 0.5 V, compared to electrostatic actuation. The vibration amplitude at resonance can be maximised by optimising the design and location of the electrodes. Electrical read out of the resonator can be performed with electrostatic or piezoelectric transduction. Finally, a great deal of research has focused on tuning the resonant frequency of a 3C-SiC resonator by adjusting the DC bias applied to the electrodes, with a higher (up to 160-times) tuning range for electrothermal tuning compared to piezoelectric tuning. Electrothermal tuning lowers the frequency, while piezoelectric tuning can be used to raise the frequency. MDPI 2016-11-15 /pmc/articles/PMC6190194/ /pubmed/30404380 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/mi7110208 Text en © 2016 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Wood, Graham S.
Sviličić, Boris
Mastropaolo, Enrico
Cheung, Rebecca
3C-Silicon Carbide Microresonators for Timing and Frequency Reference
title 3C-Silicon Carbide Microresonators for Timing and Frequency Reference
title_full 3C-Silicon Carbide Microresonators for Timing and Frequency Reference
title_fullStr 3C-Silicon Carbide Microresonators for Timing and Frequency Reference
title_full_unstemmed 3C-Silicon Carbide Microresonators for Timing and Frequency Reference
title_short 3C-Silicon Carbide Microresonators for Timing and Frequency Reference
title_sort 3c-silicon carbide microresonators for timing and frequency reference
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6190194/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30404380
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/mi7110208
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